Amusement park rides, and specifically roller coasters, are very popular at amusement parks around the world. To capture a rider's experience on a roller coaster, for example, some amusement parks use a camera to photograph each rider at the moment of maximum excitement. The photographs are then displayed to the riders on monitors as they exit the ride. This is done to entice the riders to purchase the photographs as a keepsake.
This method of taking pictures is popular with the riders, but has a number of practical limitations. For example, each rider usually only has the option to purchase one photograph of themselves on the ride. If the ride carries a large number of riders, then several photographs must be taken so that each rider has at least one photograph available for viewing and purchase. The photographs must be grouped together and tracked for each ride so that they can be displayed for viewing. Selectively displaying multiple photographs after each ride, and generating individual packages for the riders based on their selected photograph is inefficient and processing intensive.
An example camera system providing photographs of riders on an amusement park ride is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,075. A moving object detecting sensor and a speed sensor measure the running speed of a roller coaster, for example, and shot timing for operating the camera is decided based on the outputs of the detecting sensor and speed sensor. Since the shot timing is decided considering the speed of the roller coaster, the center of the camera angle can be prevented from deviating from a predetermined shooting position. While the '075 patent addresses the issue of centering the camera angle on an amusement park ride, such as a roller coaster, it does not address the above noted problems of tracking multiple photographs of each ride for individual viewing and purchase.
Amusement park riders also have the option of using a video camera for recording images of their ride. With the use of a video camera, dynamic or full motion situations can be recorded. However, the rider must operate the video camera and as a result, is not in the video. In addition, video cameras typically have limitations and will not work in some situations, such as low-light environments. Moreover, some images on a ride are too difficult or dangerous to capture, either because cameras are not allowed or it is not possible to film the desired image from the optimum location. An example is an image of a rider during a loop on a roller coaster taken from the center of the loop.